Muslims Indonesia

With her home destroyed and her church burned to the ground, 14-year-old Marina Rumakur knew there was only one way to survive: Convert to Islam and submit to a painful rite of mutilation. Trapped by Muslim extremists on the tiny Indonesian island of Kesui, she and more than 900 fellow Christians surrendered.

Concerned by mounting threats against Americans in Indonesia, the U.S. Embassy here said Thursday that it will begin withdrawing "nonemergency" employees and family members who wish to leave the country. In a strongly worded warning, the embassy urged other Americans to consider leaving and advised those who remain in Indonesia to "exercise maximum caution." Outside the U.S.

Rioters fired flaming arrows at mosques and churches and armed gangs blocked roads as clashes between Christian and Muslim militants spread in eastern Indonesia. At least 24 people have died this week and almost 3,000 have fled their homes in Maluku province, once known as the Spice Islands. At least 10 religious buildings were set afire and thousands of police and troops have been flown in to restore order.

With her home destroyed and her church burned to the ground, 14-year-old Marina Rumakur knew there was only one way to survive: Convert to Islam and submit to a painful rite of mutilation. Trapped by Muslim extremists on the tiny Indonesian island of Kesui, she and more than 900 fellow Christians surrendered.

Muslim fighters attacked a Christian village in eastern Indonesia, leaving at least 116 people dead in what Christians said was a massacre. Police said 108 Christians and eight Muslims died in the fighting Monday in the village of Duma, on Halmahera island about 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. Church workers said that as many as 160 people, including 152 Christians and eight Muslims, were killed.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid promised that security forces will round up thousands of people who he says are responsible for the sectarian violence in the Molucca Islands that has killed scores of people in the past week. While gunfire and bomb blasts echoed across Ambon, the provincial capital, Wahid told visiting U.S. newspaper editors in Jakarta, the capital, that those detained would include "hooligans acting on behalf of Islam. . . . We will detain thousands."

The war ravaging the Maluku islands is one without heroes, only victims. It is a war in which neither side, Christian or Muslim, has political demands. Ideology is not an issue. Even the young men who fight are hard pressed to explain how or why it started, much less what they hope to accomplish besides revenge and survival. But what they do know is that this island chain long noted for its religious tolerance has changed, perhaps forever. For Indonesia, the implications are serious.

At least 44 people were killed in an armed raid on a mostly Christian village in the eastern Indonesian province of North Molucca, an army chief said Tuesday. North Molucca military chief Lt. Col. Sukarwo said suspected Muslim militants attacked the village on Halmahera island before dawn Monday. The attack also injured at least 102 people, he said.

Dewi Abriyani, a willowy 16-year-old with deep brown eyes, is a vision in flowing white when she sets off each morning for high school. Her floor-length robe is pristine and starched. So is a large head cover that fits snugly around her face and falls almost to her waist. "I wear Islamic dress not only because of religious obligation," explained the young Indonesian, referring to a 7th century dictate from the Koran. "It also makes me feel more comfortable, more beautiful.

In the worst outbreak of religious violence in Indonesia in decades, more than 320 people died this week in clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Spice Islands, officials said Thursday. Christian leaders renewed calls to the United Nations to send in peacekeepers to prevent a full-scale religious war, expressing fears that security forces will be unable to quell the escalating combat.

Dewi Abriyani, a willowy 16-year-old with deep brown eyes, is a vision in flowing white when she sets off each morning for high school. Her floor-length robe is pristine and starched. So is a large head cover that fits snugly around her face and falls almost to her waist. "I wear Islamic dress not only because of religious obligation," explained the young Indonesian, referring to a 7th century dictate from the Koran. "It also makes me feel more comfortable, more beautiful.

Security forces battled independence activists armed with bows and arrows in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province, leaving at least 31 people dead, human rights workers said Saturday. John Rumbiak, a spokesman for the Irian Jaya-based Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy, said many of the victims were shot to death by police after a clash Friday.

The head of an Islamic university in restive Aceh province was shot to death Saturday, police said. Two unidentified men shot Safwan Idris, 51, in the neck at his home on the campus of the State Institute of Islamic Studies on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, said Supt. Sayed Husaini. Safwan died at a hospital. The slaying brings to at least 120 the number of people killed in Aceh since a June 2 truce between separatist guerrillas and Indonesian troops.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid promised that security forces will round up thousands of people who he says are responsible for the sectarian violence in the Molucca Islands that has killed scores of people in the past week. While gunfire and bomb blasts echoed across Ambon, the provincial capital, Wahid told visiting U.S. newspaper editors in Jakarta, the capital, that those detained would include "hooligans acting on behalf of Islam. . . . We will detain thousands."

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid formally declared a civil state of emergency in the Molucca Islands, saying fierce street fighting between Muslims and Christians had spiraled out of control. Wahid said he had assumed ultimate control of security in the islands, where scores have been killed in the past week. "The situation is out of control," he told reporters after a special meeting of key members of his Cabinet.

Deadly street battles between Christians and Muslims raged in the city of Ambon, leaving at least seven dead, and Indonesia's military reportedly backed calls for imposing martial law in the Moluccas. Malik Selang, an official at Ambon's Al Fatah mosque, said at least seven Muslims were killed in the Moluccas' main city, bringing the death toll from five days of violence to at least 53. An official at the state-run Haulusy Hospital said many people of both faiths had been wounded.

Villagers and police in Indonesia said this week that rioters burned down one of Southeast Asia's oldest churches in the recent wave of violent clashes between Muslims and Christians. Constructed in 1780 by Roman Catholic Portuguese colonizers, the Gereja Tua, or Old Church, was on Ambon Island, in the province of Maluku, 1,400 miles northeast of Jakarta. A Catholic priest was among at least eight people killed in the religious riot that erupted Jan. 21 in the twin villages of Hila-Kaitetu.

Foreign aid workers began pulling out of Ambon, Indonesia, as deadly fighting between Christians and Muslims intensified. Three Muslims and one Christian were killed in riots near the local airport, a hospital official said. The increasingly unpredictable situation has forced at least 10 members of international aid missions to evacuate the town, a military spokesman said.

Muslim fighters attacked a Christian village in eastern Indonesia, leaving at least 116 people dead in what Christians said was a massacre. Police said 108 Christians and eight Muslims died in the fighting Monday in the village of Duma, on Halmahera island about 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. Church workers said that as many as 160 people, including 152 Christians and eight Muslims, were killed.

At least 44 people were killed in an armed raid on a mostly Christian village in the eastern Indonesian province of North Molucca, an army chief said Tuesday. North Molucca military chief Lt. Col. Sukarwo said suspected Muslim militants attacked the village on Halmahera island before dawn Monday. The attack also injured at least 102 people, he said.